


Of Reincarnations and Rivalries

by totalnovaktrash



Series: All is Fair in Love and Coffee [2]
Category: Merlin (TV), Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Cadbury!verse, Crossover, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Give Arthur A Sword, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poor Sam, Stanford Era, Tags May Change, The Feckin' Bean, everyone keeps asking Bennie to lie, he didn't ask to be dragged into Arthur's angstfest, neither did Bennie, they just want all of their friends back
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2019-05-13 12:25:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totalnovaktrash/pseuds/totalnovaktrash
Summary: Morgan regains her memories and suddenly the lives of the Camelot Crew aren't so mundane anymore.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Of Art Supplies and Ungodly Obsessions](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14180007) by [UmbraeCalamitas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmbraeCalamitas/pseuds/UmbraeCalamitas). 



> Cadbury!Sam and Kathy (as well as Alice and Reynard) are from UmbraeCalamitas' Become the Beast series and Bennie was gifted to me by Amy_Winchester from Princess of Destiny. 
> 
> Yay, Sam's actually in this one!

Sometimes Bennie liked to forget that Fate was a thing and marvel at how lucky they were that all of their friends ended up in one place.

Merlin, they had been expecting. Merlin was always there, whether he wanted to be or not. But everyone else?

Bennie remembered vividly the shock of meeting Gwen and Elliot Smith after moving over five thousand miles away from the ruins of Camelot. And then they had met Leon. Then Lance. Then Gavin. Then Percy.

And then Merlin had found them.

It took time before they stopped guessing who they would find next. People stopped showing up in order. They found Will before Merlin and had to suffer through Arthur dating the trio from hell: Sophia, Vivian, and Marian. (No one understood why Bennie couldn’t stand Marian, Bennie couldn’t stop hearing an echo of their own voice “ _But_ Mithian _, Arthur?_ Mithian _?_ ”)

Merlin had to walk outside when his mother walked into The Feckin’ Bean and Bennie still had issues talking to Chemistry Professor Gaius Hickey.

There had also been the time that Bennie had walked into The Camelot Rift to find Arthur and Gavin escorting the latter’s mother away from a rather distressed Morgan and Bennie had wondered how Morgause had managed to keep her ‘one-day-you-will-die-by-my-hand’ glare without her memories.

But people from the past had stopped appearing and Bennie stopped wondering who they would find. What they really wanted to know what _when everyone would remember_.

As amusing as it was to imagine what Arthur Pendragon’s reaction to him and Gwen splitting not only because of her attraction to Lance, but _his_ attraction to Gavin (which, admittedly, they did not find all that amusing at the time) Bennie was sick of imaging. They were sick of only being able to speak openly with Merlin.

They were especially sick of the reoccurring lunch topic of _w_ _hich is better, the Bean or the Rift?_ and they were thankful when Gwen’s worried expression distracted everyone from the debate at hand.

Gwen frowned at her phone. “Kathy texted me about an hour ago, said she had to close down the Bean for a bit. Family emergency. I hope it’s not that boy Sam again, poor thing.”  
  
“You give that girl too much leeway, Gwen,” Leon said.  
  
Gwen scoffed. “Kathy Harris is a godsend, Leon. You just don’t like her because she associates with Alice, who— by the way— is an absolute genius.”  
  
“Shhh!” Arthur hissed, suddenly wide-eyed with panic.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Don’t say her name or she’ll appear!”  
  
Bennie and Merlin snickered, Gwen glared at him. “For god’s sake, Arthur, she’s a teenager! Not the Devil!”  
  
Arthur, of course, launched into his rant about how “ _No, you don’t understand, Alice Summers is a minion of hell sent specifically to torture me_ ” and Bennie rolled their eyes, having heard the speech many times before.  
  
They were saved from having to hear it again by their phone going off. They checked their text messages.  
  
**_Isabene, we need to talk._**

Bennie swallowed hard and double checked which number the text had come from.  
  
“You alright, Bennie?”  
  
They looked up. Everyone was looking at them worriedly. “Fine.”  
  
Gwen narrowed her eyes. “You sure?”  
  
“Yeah. It’s just Morgan.”  
  
“She apologizing for missing lunch?” Lance asked.  
  
Bennie forced a smile. “She had errands to run, apparently. She’s asking me to check to make sure Gavin hasn’t burned the Rift down,” they lied smoothly.  
  
“Go save your hopeless fiancé, Ryan. We’re good,” Merlin assured them. They could tell that he saw right through their lie, but they could deal with that later.  
  
There were potentially more pressing matters to deal with if Morgana le Fay was really awake.

**_Stay put. I’m on my way._ **

**_I’m at the Bean. We’ll let you in._ **

* * *

When Bennie reached The Feckin Bean, the door was still locked. They could see Kathy inside sitting on one of the couches with Sam Winchester.

They sighed, best keep Gwen away, then. The kid didn’t need her mother henning on top of any he was likely getting from Kathy.

Bennie spotted Morgan by the counter. No, not Morgan. _Morgana_. There wasn’t a clear visible difference between the two, but Bennie could tell. They could feel the power radiating from her from behind the glass window.

_A witch. A High Priestess. It’s her, it’s Morgana._

Bennie swallowed and rapped on the door, wincing when Sam seemed to start at the sound. Morgana turned her gaze to the door. Her eyes flashed gold and the door unlocked. Bennie stepped inside and re-locked the door behind them.

“Morgana, darling! How are you? It feels as though it’s been  _centuries_ since we last spoke,” they declared in a dramatic imitation of the nobility that used to visit Camelot. They hoped the familiar banter from before any murder attempts would diffuse the tension.

Morgana just continued to glare at them, which Bennie supposed was an in-character response. At least it wasn’t the Smirk of Doom.

“Professor Ryan?" Sam asked, confused.

“Mister Winchester. Miss Harris.”

“Do you, uh, want something to drink?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I came here because of a text from my sister.”

Morgana scoffed.

Sam’s eyes flicked between Morgana and Bennie. Kathy cleared her throat. “I’ll make your latte, Professor. Sam, come on. It’s warmer in the back and we can get you some food.”

“You have some nerve, don’t you?” Morgana said, voice low.

“You asked me to come here,” Bennie reminded her.

She ignored them. “How can you call me _sister_ after everything you’ve done?”

“After everything _I’ve_ done? Excuse you, but I seem to remember a grand total of two people who didn’t hate your guts. Agravaine and who else? Who was it that spent years risking banishment when trying to convince Arthur to put down his bloody sword and just _talk_ to you? Oh, that’s right, ME.”

“Don’t try to shove all of this off on me. You turned your back on me first.”

“I was trying to save you! It’s not my fault that Merlin was stronger—”

“You outed me to Arthur!” Morgana shouted.  

Bennie stopped protesting. “I did what?”

“After the Castle of Fyrien, I _heard_ you,” Morgana hissed. _“You should run before the evil sorceress decides she wants your head.”_

Bennie gaped at her. “Did you honestly believe that all it would take was a few weird looks for me to change my mind and betray you?”

“I know what I heard.”

“Arthur knew about my magic. We were talking about _me_ ,” Bennie hissed, voice no longer raised. “I meant what I told you when you returned. I never stopped believing that at some point you’d snap out of it and come home. I was wrong, obviously, because goddess forbid the world not revolve around you. _Your_ pain, _your_ kingdom, _your_ destiny.”

“ _I_ was the rightful ruler. I could’ve brought magic back to Camelot.”

“You think Arthur wasn’t going to do that?”

“He wasn’t doing it—”

Bennie raised their voice again. “Wasn’t doing it what? Fast enough? Even if laws could change overnight, the minds of the people couldn’t. What were you going to do, kill anyone who disagreed with you?”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s _exactly_ what Uther did to our people! How would you have been any different from him?”

Kathy cleared her throat and placed two drinks on the counter. One was Bennie’s usual, a horchata latte. The other was— to their surprise— a cup of tea and not Morgan’s usual java monstrosity. They refused to look at the cup. If Morgana wasn’t Morgan anymore, what had happened to the woman they had called their sister?

“I’m not getting into this argument with you right now,” Bennie decided. “Why is this even happening? There’s got to be a reason you’re awake. And at the Bean, no offense.”

“Reynard needed someone to help watch Sam while he dealt with creatures who had attacked him.”

“Really?” Bennie deadpanned. “Someone alert the media, Morgana le Fay has suddenly decided to value human life.”

“He’s the one who woke me.”

“Ah, so you only care because you’ve got to pay a debt,” Bennie sneered. “That makes much more sense."

Sam took interest in the conversation. “What do you mean, Rey woke you? Morgana le Fay is just a story, isn’t she? Like King Arthur or Merlin?”

Kathy laughed. “Merlin is an accident-prone warlock buffoon who somehow manages not to out himself even as he does magic right in front of people.”

Recognition seemed to flit across Sam’s face before he shook his head. “The night barista? He can’t be _the_ Merlin. Merlin and Camelot, all of that is just a fairytale.”

Bennie gaped at the boy. “A _fairytale_ ?” they nearly shrieked. “Are you _s_ _erious_? This is what happens when you let morons like _Grant_ teach you history.”

He frowned. “Professor Grant hasn’t—”

“I’m calling your advisor. You’re talking my class next semester.” They huffed. “A fairytale, _honestly_.”

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but all that came out was a pained shout. The onyx cuff around his wrist was glowing. Morgana grabbed his hand to study the bracelet. “This is a claim,” she concluded. “A divine claim, but I don’t recognize the symbol. Who’s is it?”

Bennie gritted their teeth, recognizing the dual snakes. “What has Loki done _now_?”


	2. Chapter 2

_They were back in Camelot. Everyone was asleep and only Merlin, Isabene, and Morgana remained. Isabene noticed Morgana having trouble breathing. She looked at the waterskin and then at Merlin. Merlin wiped his eyes and then turns to face the two of them._

_“Merlin,” Isabene said quietly, “what have you done?” They tried to hold Morgana as she struggled to breathe. Merlin looked away, whispering an enchantment to stop Isabene’s magic. “No, stop it! Merlin, let me do this!” they cried, fighting against the other warlock’s spell._

_Morgause blew the council chamber door open and rushed to Morgana, taking her from Isabene’s arms._

_Isabene stood and angrily faced Merlin. “What have you done to her?” they demanded._

_“I had to,” he insisted._

_“You poisoned her!”_

_“Morgause gave me no choice.”_

_“Tell me what you used and I can save her,” Morgause spat._  
_  
“First, stop the attack!” Merlin ordered._

_Morgause glared at him. “You're nothing but a simple servant! You don't tell me what to do!”_

_Merlin glared right back. “If you want to know what poison it is, you will undo the magic that drives the knights!”_

_“Merlin, she can't breathe!”_

_“Tell me the poison or you'll die!”_

_“Then she'll die with me. I don't want this any more than you, but you give me no choice. Stop the knights and you can save her.”_

Bennie shook off the images from their nightmare and took another sip of coffee. They had dragged Morgana back to their apartment to keep an eye on her and reluctantly told Gavin to crash at Percy’s. They weren’t surprised that the Knights of Medhir had starred in the dream. Even as Isabene that day had haunted their nightmares often. If they could’ve just focused more and thrown off Merlin’s magic, there wouldn’t have been a need for Morgause to take Morgana from Camelot. If Morgana _understood_ what Merlin had been trying to do, the manipulations Morgause had in place…

The nightmares had always bothered them more as Bennie. They were a stark reminder that the Morgan they knew and loved was once someone else. The woman who brought about Arthur’s death and, by default, the fall of Albion. The witch who murdered Gwaine to do it. The spark for that damn organization and their hatred of anything remotely connected to the Old Religion.

If they ever discovered that Morgana was back, there would be chaos. The Men of Letters would stop at nothing to hunt down and take out Morgana le Fay. Evil sorceress or no, Bennie wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I know that face.”

Bennie looked up to find Morgana watching them. “I’m not making a face.”

“Yes, you are. It’s remarkably similar to your ‘Arthur is planning a revenge prank on Morgan and I just might let him go through with it because he should know better’ face.”

“Arthur’s got nothing to do with it.”

“Obviously,” Morgana said, taking a seat at the table and pretending not to notice that Bennie was eyeing her warily. “Considering we’re the only two who know what’s going on.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Nobody hates me. Except maybe Merlin, but he’s never liked me all that much.”

Bennie snorted remembering all too well Merlin’s interest in the Lady Morgana during the early years. “Well, then I guess it was a good thing I’m the one you contacted.”

Morgana looked away. “I am sorry about that.”

“About what?”

“Waking you. The argument at the Bean. It’s just, out of nowhere my entire circle of friends were suddenly people I had a less than stellar history with and I…. I wasn’t sure how to handle that as Morgan. I considered contacting Gwen but she’s been so worried about Kathy and that Winchester boy and anyone else probably would’ve killed me on sight and I just didn’t want to be alone.”

Bennie stared at their sister. _She’s still Morgan. She can be both._

“We made a mistake,” Bennie said. “Merlin and I. Our negligence allowed you to think that you were alone in Camelot. You weren’t then, you aren’t now, and you wouldn’t have been if you didn’t text me. I already remembered.”

The expression on Morgana’s face was unsettlingly unreadable. “You already remembered.”

“I’ve always known,” they corrected her.

“You’ve always known,” she repeated, “and you still…”

“Still what?”

Morgana looked at them seriously. “After everything I’ve done, you really don’t have a problem with me being around you? Around Gwen or Arthur? Around _Gwaine_?”

Bennie put their mug down. “Are you planning on murdering my fiancé again?”

“No!”

“Well, there you go. Remembering your past hasn’t changed who you are, you know. You can have been Morgana and still be Morgan too.”

The dark haired woman raised an eyebrow. “And when exactly did you decide that?”

They shrugged. “Five minutes ago? I don’t have a frame of reference for this. You’re the first one who didn’t already know who they were when I met them.”

Morgana let that sink in. “You don’t think Arthur remembers do you?”

Bennie snorted. “Arthur? No way. We would know if he knew.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short, but the chapter had to end here.
> 
>  
> 
> [come scream with me on Tumblr!](https://dreamhunter-trash.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur is sent to check out the closed down dorm and is forced to come face to face with magic in Palo Alto. And Kathy's favorite customer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Arthur's POV of chapter 3 of Gilded Cages, which I'm thrilled to confirm is going up later today! A good chunk of the dialogue belongs to UmbraeCalamitas, as well as Cadbury!Sam.

Someone had broken into the haunted dorm.

That in and of itself wasn’t very surprising. Since word got out that they had closed the building not for repairs, but for a bloody _haunting_ it had become popular for drunk party-goers to find their way onto campus and break in.

The surprising part was that when Owen went to retrieve the piss drunk students, no one was there. Because it wasn’t another drunken joke, someone had to go investigate and everyone else was a bloody coward.

Quite frankly Arthur was more concerned with the potential tear in the veil between worlds. Unfortunately, he didn’t think Leon would grasp the seriousness of the situation. Or believe him, which would probably be the bigger barrier.

No one would, which was why Arthur had become very skilled at pointedly ignoring all of the weird things that happened on the Stanford campus. He couldn’t afford to bring such things to the attention of Bennie or Morgan or, god forbid, _Merlin_. No, better to let them continue thinking everything was normal.

Although, Arthur thought as he stood in front of the building two days after Leon had assigned him the patrol, calling in back up might’ve been smart in this case. The last time he had faced the Dorocha it had taken a human sacrifice to save the day and he wasn’t particularly in the mood to pull a Lancelot and walk into the realm of the dead.

Maybe it wasn’t the Dorocha, though. Maybe it was something like his father after he had used that horn. The thought wasn’t particularly comforting, but it would be easier to deal with.

Probably.

_Why did the dorm have to be so damn cold?_

Arthur tightened his grip on his flashlight and, for what must’ve been the fiftieth time in three days, wished that the lights would work properly. The lack of power just made the whole situation that much creepier and he hated it.

_BANG!_

The beam of his flashlight whipped towards the ceiling. Something was on the floor above him.

No horror movie cliches. No horror movie cliches. No horror movie cliches.

Arthur covered the light from his flashlight as he climbed the stairs to the next floor. His eyes had only just adjusted to the darkness enough to make out make out the vague outline of a man crouching aside a hole in the wall. He uncovered the flashlight and shined it at the man. “Hey—”

The man dropped whatever was in his hands and _threw himself_ at Arthur. In an instant, the blonde man found himself pinned to the ground, one arm behind his back, with the man shining Arthur’s flashlight right in his eyes. He struggled to sit up, but his attacker was heavy and the blinding light was a bit of a distraction. “Mind not shining my own flashlight directly in my face?”

“You’re a security guard,” the man stated sounding genuinely confused. 

“And you’ve broken into an off-limits dorm and are currently sitting on me.”

The man muttered something before apologizing. The weight on Arthur's chest disappeared and the man let him sit up before handing back the flashlight. He got his first good look at the intruder.  

Not a man, but a kid. A student. Arthur had seen the boy before. He was a regular at the Bean and a friend of _Hers._ Arthur groaned. “Oh hell, please tell me you’re here alone.”

That only served to confuse the kid more. “Who would be with me?”

“The Hellspawn.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know,” Arthur said, irritably. “The Coffee Runner.”

“You mean Alice? _”_

“ _Don’t say her name!_ ” 

The kid looked at him and laughed. “You’re one of the ones who are always after her, aren’t you? Why can’t I say her name? Is this like a _speak of the devil_ thing?”

Arthur huffed. “Who are you?”

“Sam,” he said, offering the guard his hand.

He accepted the offer but narrowed his eyes. His luck couldn’t be _that_ bad, could it? “Not… Sam Winchester?”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “I can’t imagine you and she talk much,” he said warily.

“We don’t. But I’ve heard all about you from her sister.”

He blanched. “She has a sister?”

Arthur frowned. “Yes, Kathy. You didn’t know they were related?”

Sam just sort of gaped at him and Arthur’s attention turned to the hole in the wall and the hammer laying beside it. “What exactly are you doing here?”

“I—” he was cut off by the door being slammed against the wall. “Shit, did you break the salt line?”

Arthur blinked at him. “The what?”

“The line of salt!” Sam snapped. “Did you mess it up?”

“Why? Is it important?” he questioned, thinking back to the circle of salt Elyan had put under his bed when the Druid boy had been haunting him. “It’s protection, isn’t it?”

“Not anymore!” the kid grabbed his bag and picked up the thing he a dropped.  

“A hammer? What the hell is that for?” Arthur demanded, watching as Sam walked towards the wall and _swung._ “What are you doing?!” 

He shoved something into the hole. “Trying to get myself killed.” Sam grabbed Arthur’s arm and started pulling him toward the stairs. “Trust me, you do not want to stay on this floor. Up the stairs!” Sam pushed him at the steps. “Go!”

 _Gwen, this kid is a damn menace,_ Arthur thought, but rushed up the stairs anyway. Last he had heard, Sam Winchester had been having panic attacks in the Bean, not playing ghosthunter in abandoned dorm buildings. Then again, that had been before winter vacation. Gwen would be glad to know he was doing better. He probably wouldn’t bring up the ghost, though.

Sam dragged him the rest of the way to the third floor. “Hey, listen--”

“Shut up,” Sam said. “Take your flashlight, put a hole in the middle of the wall, and put one of these inside.”

Arthur stared at the handful of little bags Sam had shoved into his arms. “Why?”

“For decoration!” Sam knocked a hole in another wall. “There’s a poltergeist haunting the dorm, in case  you missed the memo, and now it’s pissed off, so I’d like to avoid getting thrown out a window, thanks. Now are you going to help me or are you going to keep asking questions?”

Arthur knew when to question things and when to follow orders. He bashed his own hole in the wall.

A poltergeist, Sam had said. Not Dorocha. The Dorocha hadn’t been able to slam things around, only freeze people to death. His father had been able to throw things and slam doors and set fires, though. Had he been a poltergeist?

Well, at least this one didn’t need a human sacrifice. But the horn was long gone. How did Sam plan on getting rid of the spirit? Well, first things first. “How  did you know about the haunting?”

“Pretty sure everyone knows about it at this point.”

 _Obviously_ . _That was why Arthur had been sent._

“Wait,” Sam said, “you actually _believe_ this place is haunted?”

Arthur snatched one of the bags from Sam’s backpack and smashed another hole. “I sure as hell _hope_ it’s not. But at least it’s not my father this time.” He muttered the latter sentence under his breath.

“You’re not a hunter, are you?”

What did _that_ have to do with anything? “I hunt deer.” _Well, not so much anymore, but Sam doesn’t have to know that._

“Nevermind.” Sam shook his head and they moved on to the next floor. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Arthur. How exactly does a guy learn to… well, bust ghosts?”

Sam snorted. “I am not a ghostbuster.”

“Really.”

“For one thing, this is a poltergeist. Spirit, yes. Ghost, no. I would much rather deal with a ghost. Sometimes you luck out and they’re actually friendly.”

 _Well, lucky you. Clearly, I’ve been hanging out with the wrong ghosts._ “Oh really, so you’ve met Casper.”

“Not Casper, no. But… some people just get lost.”

There was something about Sam’s tone that made Arthur really not want to unpack that sentence. Arthur tried to focus on the job. The quicker they got this done, the quicker the spirit would be gone.

“I… cannot believe you aren’t panicking, to be honest.”

Arthur laughed bitterly. If only this kid knew the things he had gone through. He shared an apartment with _Merlin_ for god’s sake. Even if the poor idiot didn’t remember their shared past, he and his little beast made enough chaos to last a lifetime. Just the day before that damn cat had thrown a butter knife at him! “This isn’t even the most interesting thing I’ve done this week. And I’ve seen some… really weird shit.”

There was a clattering sound from a few floors down and a bellow that indicated that something was very angry. “Fuck, it broke through the salt line.”

The two of them raced up the stairs to the next level. “Care to explain why we're defacing school property?” Arthur asked as he made yet another hole. “If I’m getting fired, I’d at least like to know why.”

“It’s a spell,” Sam explained.

A warning went off in the back Arthur’s head that sounded suspiciously like Uther Pendragon shouting _‘SORCERY!’_ Arthur shook his head. Magic wasn’t evil, he knew that now. But still, was this kid as pure as Gwen seemed to believe? “You ever worry about getting… I dunno, burned at the stake for this sort of thing?”

“I’m more worried about getting shot for trespassing, to be honest. They didn’t burn witches in America, anyway.”

“So you admit you’re a witch.”

Sam laughed. “Not a witch. Not a warlock either.”

Arthur flinched. Maybe not, but that would be just his luck, wouldn’t it? Trading Isabene and Merlin for another damned warlock.

Sam didn’t seem to notice his reaction. “I’m… just a guy who knows some magic. Okay… more than some. Kind of a lot, actually. Huh. Shit, maybe I _am_ a witch.”

The spirit screeched again, closer this time. Right below them. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Arthur screamed at the stairs. “If you’re going to chase us, at least shut the fuck up!” He scooped Sam’s backpack off the floor and darted up the stairs, leaving the furious poltergeist behind. “I wish I had a fucking sword!” Arthur hissed, smashing at another wall. Excalibur could’ve potentially done _something_ to slow down this thing. At the very least, it would’ve been more helpful than a damn flashlight.

“You could name your flashlight Excalibur.”

Arthur’s head whipped around to look at Sam. Had he been reading his mind? Could witches _do that_?

“You’re name’s Arthur and there’s a kid in The Feckin’ Bean named Merlin,” Sam explained. “You guys trying to start a Renaissance Fair here or something?”

Arthur relaxed and cracked a grin, imagining the reactions the other would have if he suggested such a thing as they ran up another flight of stairs. At least Bennie would get a kick out of it. Or scream at everyone if it wasn’t historically accurate. “I once dated a woman named Gwen, who is now in a relationship with my friend Lance. So it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.”

That amused Sam. “Seriously? Those are all your real names?”

Arthur nodded. “Want to know the best part?”

“What’s that?”

“My last name’s King.”

Sam seemed to get the joke. “So... every teacher in primary school…”

“I’ve been King Arthur since Kindergarten.”

Sam laughed. “Are you friends with Merlin, too?”

“Don’t you know? He’s my pet warlock.”

“Should’ve brought him along. He could’ve helped us fight off this stupid poltergeist.”

The banter was a nice change of pace-- it reminded Arthur of fighting alongside his knights, and that thought made him sick. He wasn’t supposed to be enjoying this, it wasn’t supposed to make his nostalgic. He should be irritated at this relapse into adventuring, not wishing he _had_ dragged Merlin along.

Arthur shook his head, trying to dislodge the thought. He needed to focus. “Oh god, I’m calling off tomorrow. My legs are gonna be jelly. Is this something you do a lot?”

“To be fair, this is the tallest building I have ever dealt with a haunting in. Maybe the power will come back on after its exorcized and we can ride the elevator back down.”

“Oh god, yes, please.”

They had almost made it to the top floor when Sam’s salt supply ran out.

“What happens if this doesn’t work?” Arthur questioned, thinking about the havoc the ghost of Uther had caused. People had nearly been impaled, set on fire, dismembered, or crushed, none of which sounded particularly desirable.

“It’ll probably throw us out a window,” Sam muttered. _Oh, that sounds so much better._ “And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have wings.”

“I left mine in my other uniform. How will we know if it works though?” There had been no potion to see the spirit this time, how could they tell if it was gone?

“Trust me, we’ll know.” Arthur bashed in another hole and decided to take Sam’s word for it. The kid knew what he was doing.  “Oh shit.”

“What? What is it?”

“This place doesn’t have a basement, does it?”

Arthur laughed in relief. “No. No, thank fuck, it does not have a basement. I am _not_ trotting down fifty flights of stairs and waving hi to Casper on the way. Thank you, Sam!”

As if on cue, the poltergeist broke through the last salt line.

The flashlight was ripped out of Arthur’s hand and tossed out the window. He only had a moment to hope that it no one was passing by before the spirit launched him across the room. For a moment, Arthur was back in Camelot being thrown by the force of an enemy sorcerer’s magic. He tried to catch himself but failed and fell backward down the stairs, knocking his head on the way down.

The world went fuzzy. Sam’s shouts only registered as a faint buzzing. Arthur could feel blood dripping from a head wound. He felt vaguely sick for more reasons than just the probable concussion he had just received. This whole situation felt too familiar, reaching the final battle only for Arthur to be tossed aside and injured, barely conscious, just in time for Merlin to save the day.

But Merlin wasn’t here anymore. Arthur hadn’t brought him. He hadn’t wanted everything to go the same way and yet here he was.

_I’ve been King Arthur since Kindergarten._

He’d been King Arthur for much longer than that.

He forced himself back up the stairs. Sam was pinned against the wall, a section of banister hovered ominously behind him like a spear pointed directly at the small of his back. On the floor were the last bag and Sam’s hammer.

He knew what to do.

Arthur untied the little bag, re-tied it around the handle of the hammer, and struggled to his feet. He gripped his weapon tightly and whipped it at the last wall

The hammer smashed into the space near Sam’s head. The spirit let out the most horrendous noise as the room was filled with a blinding light.

It was done.

“Next time I am bringing a fucking sword,” Arthur growled. Sam managed to get to his feet and looked between Arthur and the newest hole in the wall incredulously. He reached into the hole to grab the hammer. “Uh, hey, wait a second!” Arthur tried to get over to Sam to stop him, but the pain in his right leg was causing issues. “If that fucking ghost comes back and throws me down more stairs!”

“It’s gone,” Sam assured him. “The ritual worked.” The kid stared at the hammer, then at Arthur himself with an impressed sort of awe.

As far as Sam knew, Arthur was just a security guard with a weird life. Not someone who had faced poltergeists and Dorocha and griffins and dragons and sorcerers and curses and armies and _his own goddamn sister_. And he’d defeated them all.

“I don’t miss, Sam. Ever.”

Sam put the hammer back inside the wall. “Good to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come scream with me on tumblr! I’m dreamhunter-trash


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bennie really hates secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I'm writing chapter 2 of secrets and stories which does come before this chronologically.
> 
>  
> 
> I swear eventually I'll put all of these chapters in chronological order.
> 
>  
> 
> please don't hate me

The lack of any light in the apartment surprised Bennie less than it should have.

Merlin had been in a mood when they had gone to visit him, which could only mean that he and Arthur had gotten in another fight.

Those never ended well.

So of course, it came as no shock when they opened the door to find Arthur drunk and alone, curled up on the couch, in the darkness of his and Merlin’s apartment. 

“Do you remember when we were younger,” Arthur began, words slurring slightly, “and every stick was a sword? And every time we both had sticks, we had to be sword fighting.”

Bennie remembered. They could recall running around the yard with fallen branches, comparing nine-year-old Arthur King’s play fighting to nine-year-old Arthur Pendragon’s sparring techniques in their mind. In Camelot, they had always been fairly evenly matched and sparring often ended with good-natured jabs and teasing. It had been the same in Palo Alto, except for when the loser would drop their ‘weapon’ and tackle the winner to the ground. 

“I let you win,” Arthur told them.

“That’s a lie,” they retorted automatically.

“You wouldn’t even know.” He snorted and took another sip of his whiskey. “Swords are stupid,” he declared. 

Bennie snatched the glass from him. “Where did you even get this?”

“Your fiancé.”

“When was Gavin here?”

“Doesn’t matter. He doesn’t get it. No one gets it. Secrets hurt people. They kill people. Like swords.” Arthur looked up at his sibling. “You never kept secrets from me.”

Bennie shifted, uncomfortably.  _ Merlin said no. You promised you wouldn’t out yourself. Don’t say anything out loud. Don’t say anything out loud. Don’t say anything out loud. _

“I mean, you did, but you told me eventually. You told me before it was too late.”

_ Jokes on you, _ Bennie thought, bitterly.  _ You have no idea the kind of secrets I keep. _

“Merlin thinks they help, but they  _ don’t _ . They never have. What right do they have to keep things from him? It could be important. It could even save his life.”

“Save who? What are you rambling about?” Bennie asked.

“The barista, Kathy, and the speed demon from hell,” Arthur spat, “they’re keeping secrets from their roommate, the Winchester kid.”

“That’s none of our business, Arthur,” they sighed.

“But it’s clearly something important! Secrets are dangerous, they kill people! They killed me! Swords are stupid. The sword wouldn’t have done me in if it weren’t for his secrets.”

Bennie gaped at him.

“Sometimes I think none of it would’ve happened if it weren’t for his secrets. My problem was never with what he was, just that he didn’t tell me. He was like you, why would I have cared? But he never said. And then we all died. And now we’re all here. But you wouldn’t know. You don’t know, no one does. Just me. Arthur Pendragon. The Once and Future King of Dying Alone.”

“Arthur—”

“I didn’t want any of this, you know,” he continued angrily. “I didn’t want Morgana as my sister or Gwen as my ex or Gwaine as my future brother-in-law. I went along with it because I had no choice, none of us did. Why couldn’t I start over? Be someone different? Let Arthur Pendragon stay dead. But when I fought that ghost, I could feel it. I  _ wanted _ to be a hero. It’s a cycle, I’m stuck in a cycle. How many times have I lived this life?”

_ He knew. _

_ Arthur knew. _

Arthur remembered Camelot. He knew that this life wasn’t his first and he seemed to be under the impression that there were plenty more he didn’t remember. For some reason, this bothered Bennie immensely. 

“Once.”

Arthur stopped ranting. “What?”

“You’ve lived it once.” Bennie’s eyes flashed gold as they used their magic to make Arthur sober again. “This is the first time you’ve been back. There is no  _ cycle _ for you, Arthur. Do you want to talk about  _ cycles _ ? I’ve been reborn over one hundred times. I’ve died over one hundred different ways. One and a half  _ thousand _ years, Arthur, and this is the first time since the beginning that the rest of you have been here all at once.” They swallowed the rest of their own rant. “How long?”

“How long what?”

“How long have you remembered? How long have you known?”

“Since the beginning.”

_ Arthur, this is Isabel, your new sister. Isabel, Arthur. _

_ Arthur, this is Isabene. She’s going to be staying with us. Isabene, Arthur. _

“Okay,” Bennie growled, “we need to talk.”

“I don’t see what needs to be discussed,” Arthur said, shortly. “Clearly you have your memories and have been keeping them a secret as well.”

“A secret from who? You?” they demanded. “I thought you didn’t know! What was I supposed to say,  _ oh hey bro, did you know that our entire friend group is made of reincarnated members of the Knights of the Round Table? _ ”

“You forgot  _ also I am super warlock Lady Isabene of the Lake of Avalon and you are and always will be Arthur Pendragon, the Once and Future King. _ ”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why? Do you have a problem with Isabene Rhian? With Freya? The Lady of the Lake?”

Bennie scoffed. “Of course not! But this isn’t about me, Arthur! I’m not the one who’s been letting his siblings run around thinking that they’re alone, which by the way, worked  _ so _ well last time.”

“And how is that  _ my _ fault?”

They shook their head. “You know what, you’re right. We don’t need to talk about this right now. I’m going to Morgan’s.”

Arthur leaped to his feet. “No!”

“What?”

“You can’t go to Morgan’s, you  _ can’t _ tell Morgan! Or Merlin!”

“ _What_?! Why the _fuck_ not? You don’t think they’d want to know?”

“Listen, Bennie. I said I didn’t want a redo and I mean it. We need to keep everything as normal as possible. We need to pretend that this whole conversation didn't happen.”

Bennie couldn’t believe it. Since they were young, they had dreamed about the day their siblings would remember their pasts and they didn’t have to continue keeping secrets from the people they cared about. Agreeing to Merlin’s insistence that they continue to keep magic a secret from Arthur had been painful, but they had done it for Merlin’s sake because Merlin didn’t want to risk failure. Now their brother stood in front of them in full possession of all of his memories-- everything Bennie had wanted for years, what Merlin had been waiting for since before the fall of Camelot-- and all he wanted to do was  _ forget _ .

He wanted Bennie to continue to lie to everyone around them for the sake of his own comfort. Because  _ he _ wanted everything to be ‘normal’. It was such an inconsiderate and selfish request that Bennie couldn’t help but see the royal prat from thousands of years ago. The reminder of the kind of person Arthur used to be felt a punch to the gut.

“You know what, if you want to do this to yourself that’s fine,” Bennie spat. “You can keep pretending that everything is  _ perfect _ and  _ simple _ . Live in your little fantasy world where the dirty, evil sorcerers never existed and magic is fake, see if I care. But I don’t want anything to do with it. You’re making a mistake, Arthur, the same one we all made last time. I’m not sticking around to watch it destroy you.”

They turned on their heel and marched out of the apartment. Arthur didn’t try to stop them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [come scream at me on Tumblr](https://dreamhunter-trash.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> ALL IS FAIR NOW HAS AN [ASK BLOG](https://askthecamelotcrew.tumblr.com/)


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